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The withdrawal of Arianna Huffington from the California gubernatorial race has turned out to be an unexpected boon to the candidacy of former "Diff'rent Strokes" star Gary Coleman, who today surged to nearly 1% in the polls.

Mr. Coleman was back on the campaign trail today, urging voters who were planning to waste their votes on Ms. Huffington to waste their votes on him instead.

"With Arianna out of the race, I am the only candidate who voters can cast a completely meaningless vote for," Mr. Coleman told a cheering crowd in Oxnard.

The boomlet for Mr. Coleman may be short-lived, however, as porn star Mary Carey attempted to position herself as "the only candidate who speaks for the real vote-wasters of California."

"Now that he is at 1%, Gary Coleman has lost his credibility as a joke candidate," Ms. Carey said. "Only by voting for me can the people of California be absolutely sure they are wasting their votes."

On the other end of the spectrum, Arnold Schwarzenegger topped 87% in the latest poll after the candidate vowed that, if elected, he would stop making movies forever.

Savoring his frontrunner status, Mr. Schwarzenegger gave credit for his strong performance in last week's debate to the latest member of his campaign team, veteran insult-comic Don Rickles, who penned many of Mr. Schwarzenegger's pointed barbs.

Mr. Schwarzenegger scored points during the debate when he asked Ms. Huffington if the singer Stevie Wonder had picked out her outfit and when he called her fiscal plan "worthy of a hockey puck, you hockey puck."